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Thursday, March 21: This morning, I call Mario at 7 a.m. “Are you up?” Of course, I know he is up. We share the annoying problem of waking up in the wee morning hours, no matter how late we have stayed up the night before.
heading out of Misfat al Abriyyin on the W9 trail
All day yesterday, we kept going around in circles trying to figure out a place we could go for a walk this weekend. I personally am sick of the same old places, and I didn’t want to do something I have done 4-5 times already. Neither did we want to drive a long distance. This morning, when I get him on the phone, he says, “What about the upper path from Misfat Al Abriyyin? We haven’t done that yet.”
grasses and a fallen date palm
We actually had this on our list of things to do before I leave Oman, but we had considered staying overnight at the B&B in Misfat and then getting a dawn start. However, there is really no need to spend the night, as we live only 45 minutes away. We agree to go and head off to Misfat.
sunlight glows through the palms
Instead of heading down into the gardens and banana plantations of Misfat, which is where I always go, we head uphill on a steep village street and then down some steps toward a large falaj that leads out of the village and into a gorge.
the large falaj leading out of the village
one of many goats we encounter along the old donkey trail
We merge into the W9 trail which heads, after crossing a wadi, to the top of the Western Hajar Mountains. It eventually meets up with the W8, which goes to Balad Sayt, and the W10, which goes to Sharaf Al Alamayn. These two trails apparently give magnificent views of Wadi Bani Awf (a treacherous drive through wadi bani awf: a near-tragedy, the picturesque village of balad sayt & a glimpse of the infamous snake canyon).
the view from the shade of the date palms
a watchtower that looks over Misfat Al Abriyyin
Date palms and banana trees shade us until we get out of the village, where we find ourselves at the edge of a canyon open to the sun. At least there is a lovely breeze this morning.
the ancient donkey trail (W9)
We encounter goats everywhere. We also see lots of big lizards today, but most of them are too fast to capture by camera. After walking on a good trail interspersed with stone steps along the edge of the canyon, the path descends into the wadi and then up the other side, where it eventually meets up with the W8 and the W10 paths.
looking down into some farms in the wadi
views along the ancient donkey path
heading down into the wadi
another little goat friend we meet along the way
into the wadi
We have no plan to go that far today. We just want a short walk, so we stop at a shady spot in the wadi after about an hour. A small slick-looking lizard and some wandering goats join us as we take a break.
a little companionable lizard
more goat friends
We get a kick out of some silly goats that are climbing trees and eating flowers off the uppermost branches.
a goat up in a tree nibbling furiously on flowers in the upper branches
another view of the tree-climbing goat
a silly goat in another tree
nibbling tree-climbing goat
Finally, we backtrack to Misfat al Abriyyin, where we meet on the trail some normal-looking ex-pats who work at a college in Muscat. We are both surprised to find these unusual specimens in this part of our world.
glowing bush
On our way back along the falaj, Mario spots a male frog squeezing the eggs out of his female counterpart in the water of the falaj.
frogs working together to lay eggs. That’s teamwork!
returning to the village of Misfat Al Abriyyin
We end up having a lunch topped off with fresh banana juice and orange juice at a little “restaurant and coffee shop” in Al Hamra. We are done a little after noon and on our way back to Nizwa. 🙂
Click here to see my other posts on the lower half of Misfat Al Abriyyin.
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a nomad in the land of nizwa 
Love the donkey and the goats. The watchtower loos like the one I visited in the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Thanks for showing these beautiful photos.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
Really, Francine? There are watchtowers like that in the Grand Canyon? I’ve only been briefly to the Grand Canyon, but I’m looking forward to coming home and exploring all the amazing places in the USA! 🙂
Here is a link to the post I did on the Watchtower in the Grand Canyon. http://wp.me/p23TG1-1fx I hope you enjoy it.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
Thanks for sending it Francine. I checked it out and commented. 🙂
Here is a link to my post on it here: http://wp.me/p23TG1-1fx
I saw it and that video! Very cool! Thanks for sharing it, Francine. 🙂
Loved the goat in the tree eating flowers and the egg-laying frog… nice touches to a walk in the wilds.
Thanks so much, Annette. Those things were really cool to see; we got a hoot out of them!
Beautiful but it looks like a killer trek in the heat. Love the crazy climbing goats 🙂
Thanks, Gilly. Surprisingly, because we started so early and there was a breeze, it wasn’t that bad. I love those goats too!
Tree climbing goats! I guess it’s a case of “where there’s a will, there’s a way”.
Yes, they’re hilarious, aren’t they? All of Oman’s goats are so agile. They’re used to mountainous terrain and can climb on anything. 🙂
What a very interesting walk you had, Cathy. That frog photos is really weird. Imagine if humans had to give birth in the same way! I think the guys would chicken out. 🙂 I really laughed at that tree-climbing goat. I never knew they could do that.
Both of those things were really bizarre and funny to us: the frogs and the goats. At least it’s always fun to see something new and interesting. 🙂
I had no idea male frogs helped in the egg laying process!! And it seems like the trail needs to be renamed after those agile goats 🙂 Fab shots Cathy.
Thanks, Madhu! We always encounter strange things in our Oman outings. I’ve seen the goats standing on their hind legs eating tree leaves before, but it’s rare that I’ve seen them climbing the trees! As far as those frogs, I would have never known that’s what they were doing, but Mario grew up on a farm in El Salvador, and he knows a lot about nature. Strange, huh?
FABULOUS wildlife and a goat in a tree- there must be a song written about this!!
A song! What a great idea, Kathryn.
The goat song???? Lets think about this…The Goat Song by Adam Sandler !! Hehehe- who knew!! Post it!!
Hilarious!! That’s quite a long song about a GOAT!!
I’m amused by the curious goats!
Me too, Frizz!
It’s such a dramatic environment. Great photos.
Thanks, Carol. 🙂
More great photos – and I love the way the video shows how nimble the goats are among the rocks. And goats climbing trees like that? New to me. And what about the frogs? I guess i would have thought that must be eggs, but I’m used to seeing a mound of pale jelly-like eggs, not this dark extruded snaky thing! Didn’t know it was a team effort either. Good spot, Mario. The date palms are so pretty, but the sun does look harsh. Just as well you wake early – it would be too hot to take that walk later, right?
Thanks, Lynn. That video cracks me up. Those frogs are bizarre. I would have thought they were mating, but Mario knows a lot about wildlife and told me the small male was on top squeezing the eggs out of the female. Bizarre huh? I would have never known. Yes, the sun is harsh here all year, and now it’s starting to get quite hot, but there was a nice breeze and the shade helped a lot. Before too long it will be too hot to go outside at all. And yes, we always try to walk in the morning because it’s way too hot in the afternoons.
Thanks so much for your thoughtful comment, Lynn. 🙂
Lovely shots Cathy – and I love the goats! We encountered some in Morocco last week and I’m still smiling about them now 🙂
Thanks so much, Suzanne. I love the goats all over Oman. Did you see tree-climbing goats in Morocco too? 🙂
Yes we did – post up later today!
Ok, I’ll keep my eyes open! 🙂
The goats are so cute!
Yes, they are, Lori. I always like them! 🙂
Seeing frogs and lizards and goats on a hike is my kind of day! I was laughing while I read this… 😉
Thanks, Ruth. Believe me, we were laughing when we saw all these critters and their shenanigans! 🙂
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Thank you so much for the kind mention in your post, Marianne. You are so sweet. Now I hope I can find some multi-colored photos for your challenge! 🙂 I wish I had some colorful tree-climbing goats!